Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
French, 1864-1901
Jane Avril
INV-6718
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
French, 1864-19011899
lithographprint
Date
1899
Medium
Color lithograph on tan wove paper
Dimensions
Image, incl. stray marks: 55.6 × 30.9 cm (21 15/16 × 12 3/16 in.); Sheet: 55.6 × 37.6 cm (21 15/16 × 14 13/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison Collection
This poster was Lautrec’s last image of Avril. With her arms raised in a playful surrender, the dancer yields to an appliquéd snake, whose coils wrap around her slender black dress.
Her twisted body might seem exaggerated, but it could have been prompted by Avril’s performances. As the poet Arthur Symons recalled, “She was so thin and supple that she could turn over backward…until she brushed the floor with her shoulders.”
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